Surgery – Means for introducing or removing material from body for... – Treating material introduced into or removed from body...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-14
2002-12-03
Doerrler, William C. (Department: 3763)
Surgery
Means for introducing or removing material from body for...
Treating material introduced into or removed from body...
C604S058000, C128S203120, C128S203150
Reexamination Certificate
active
06488648
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a device for feeding a powder in a predetermined amount and a method thereof. As a typical example, the present invention relates to a multi-dose powdered medicine administering device.
More specifically, the invention relates to a powdered medicine multi-dose administering device by which a powdered medicine of an amount of plural times of administration operations stored in the-device body is extracted and weighed into a unit dose of powdered medicine of a constant quantity, which is a very small amount, and is sprayed.
The invention further provides a relatively inexpensively constructed multi-dose powdered medicine administering device by which a unit dose of powdered medicine can be consecutively and precisely extracted and administered into the body cavity such as the nasal cavity, oral cavity, trachea, bronchus or lung, or into any other diseased part by spraying or inhalation, the device being sanitary, suited to being carried and easy to use.
BACKGROUND ART
Powdered medicine can be administered into a body cavity such as the nasal cavity, oral cavity or airway by means of spraying or inhalation. For example, the powdered medicine is administered by spraying into the nasal cavity of a patient suffering from a nasal allergy, or is administered by inhalation into the air ways of a patient suffering from asthma. For a patient suffering from stomatitis, the powdered medicine is administered by spraying into the oral cavity. Recently, attention has been given to a drug delivery system in which a medicine is absorbed into the bloodstream through the mucous membrane of the nasal cavity or lung, and it has been attempted to administer powdered medicine via a mucous membrane. Peptide/proteinous drugs such as insulin and calcitonin, as well as drugs which must exhibit immediate effect such as migraine-relieving drug and the like drugs have been produced in the form of powdery orally administering agents or inhalable agents that can be conveniently used as substitutes for injected drugs, and it has been frequently reported that such drugs are more favorably absorbed than the orally administered drugs.
To administer the powdered medicine, a powdered medicine administering device is used. Powdered medicine administering devices are roughly classified into one of the two types according to the system for storing the powdered medicine.
In the first type of powdered medicine administering device, a powdered medicine in an amount of a unit-dose administering operation is accommodated in the administering device or in an appropriate container such as a capsule. Therefore, a unit-dose of powdered medicine is administered at each administering operation. This includes those of the disposable type that are discarded after each administering operation.
In the second type of powdered medicine administering devices, a powdered medicine in an amount of many times-of administering operations is accommodated in an appropriate container. Each time an administering operation is carried out, an accurate unit-dose of powdered medicine is extracted from the container and is administered.
In the present invention, the amount of powdered medicine to be administered in a single operation is defined as a “unit-dose”, and the amount of powdered medicine to be administered in a plurality of operations. is defined as a “multi-dose”.
As an example of the powdered medicine unit-dose administering device, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 59-34267 discloses one which sprays the powdered medicine into the nasal cavity. In these administering devices, in general, a unit-dose of the powdered medicine is contained in a container such as a capsule, and provision is made of means for piercing the container and air stream introduction means for spraying the powdered medicine from the container into the nasal cavity of a patient. As an example of the disposable unit-dose administering device, International Patent Publication No. 2-500172 discloses an administering device which contains a fine powdery medicine, and includes a holding unit forming an opening in the head portion thereof for spraying the medicine so as to be inhaled, and air introduction means, the bottom of the holding unit being communicated with the air introduction means through an air-permeable diaphragm which does not permit the passage of the medicine. Further, WO 97/04826. discloses an administering device which is an improvement on the above device.
Concerning the unit-dose inhaler by which powdered medicine is inhaled into the air ways, a large number of devices have been proposed. For example, there is provided an inhaler employing capsules that are usually used pharmacologically. In each capsule, a unit-dose of powdered medicine is accommodated. Each administering device is provided with means for piercing the capsule. After the capsule is pierced, the powdered medicine is administered by the air flow created by the inhaling action of the user. The administering devices have their features in the air flow at the time of inhaling and in the state of the capsule. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,906,950 and 4,013,075 disclose devices in which both ends of the capsule are pierced and the capsule remains stationary during the inhalation, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,807,400 discloses the one in which the capsule moves during the inhalation.
As an example of a multi-dose administering device, the specification of WO 94/26338 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,900—Makino et al.) discloses one which administers the medicine by spraying. This specification discloses a device comprising a storage chamber detachably attached to the device body and storing multi-dose of medicine, a container chamber having a unit dose capacity, medicine distribution means movably attached to the device body and communicated at the filling position with the storage chamber and with the container chamber to administer the medicine in the container chamber, and pumping means communicated at the filling position with the container chamber to inject air into the storage chamber to stir up the medicine in the storage chamber, wherein the container chamber is filled with a predetermined amount of powdered medicine after stirring as it is transferred from the storage chamber by the sucking force created by the pumping means or by gravity.
As a nasal cavity administering device, European Patent Publication No. 0744188 discloses a nasal cavity applicator comprising a manual air-flow supply source for spraying powdered medicine, a storage chamber for storing multi-dose of powdered medicine, a pipe for passing the powdered medicine, and means for distributing the multi-dose of powdered medicine into a unit doses of powdered medicine. Means for distributing the powdered medicine includes a drum-shaped powdered medicine storage chamber and a rotary sleeve having, on the inside thereof, a plurality of container chambers for containing a unit doses of medicine.
As a device for administering powdered medicine into the air ways by inhalation, European Patent Publication No. 0211595 discloses a device in which a disk-shaped pack is loaded into the device, and a series of bubbles are arranged around the pack under the condition that the distances from the bubbles to the center of the pack are the same. A predetermined quantity (unit-dose) of powdered medicine is accommodated in each bubble. This pack is put on the rotary circular tray about the center axis. The tray has holes at positions corresponding to the bubbles, and when each bubble is moved to a position where it is broken by an appropriate opening device, powdered medicine is taken out from the bubble and is inhaled.
Further, European Patent Publication No. 0069715 discloses the following device. This administering device includes a container, accommodating a predetermined quantity of medicine, and a device for taking out powdered medicine accommodated in the container so as to prepare for the administration of the medicine. The administration preparation device is composed of a plate hav
Dohi Masahiko
Makino Yuji
Matsugi Hideo
Uejima Yasuhide
Doerrler William C.
Sughrue & Mion, PLLC
Teijin Limited
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